Dr Shoesmith, I presume

By Bryan Jackson

One of Warkworth’s founding fathers, John Valentine Shoesmith, arrived on New Zealand’s shores in rather clandestine circumstances. Born in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1854, he was 33 when he married 22-yearold Mary Lowrey in 1887. It was stated at the time that he was a medical student, but by 1890 he was working as an innkeeper. It appears the couple left London in a hurry, travelling under the assumed names of Mr and Mrs Mayo. When they arrived in Warkworth, they stayed at Brooklands with Thomas Walker. When Walker enquired about their assumed names, Shoesmith replied that he had done a slope [sneaked off] and had just got away by the skin of his teeth. The rest remains a mystery.

In Warkworth, Shoesmith, who had never qualified as a doctor, took on the role of a doctor and was referred to as Dr Shoesmith. Many residents were treated by “Dr Shoesmith” and once, when he was recovering from a broken leg, his wife carried out his duties. However, the qualified doctors who practiced in Warkworth over the years were opposed to his activities as a pseudo-doctor and Dr Ick wrote to the Minister of Justice, complaining of the situation which had caused him to lose income. When Shoesmith was in charge of the Warkworth Cottage Hospital the local doctor refused to police that she had stolen £7.10s from him. However, when the matter went to court, Alice was discharged on the basis that Shoesmith’s evidence was unreliable.

On May 18, 1921, John Shoesmith died of cardiac arrest, aged 73 years. He was interred at the Anglican cemetery and in 1945, Warkworth residents raised funds to install a proper headstone on his grave. Under the terms of Shoesmith’s will, upon the death of his wife, the Warkworth Town Board came in to possession of his £1300 property, which now bears his name. The property saw school sports and picnics, cricket, hockey and football played on it. For many years some of the paddocks were leased for grazing. In 1938, twoand-a-half acres was sold to the Auckland Education Board for £350 with a right to use a further two-and-a-half acres during school hours. The new school opened in June 1945. Today, the Shoesmith property consists of part of Warkworth Primary School, Shoesmith Domain and the former Women’s Bowling Club. The house was demolished in the 1940’s.

Andrew Steens

Good goss of greenhouses

The coming-of-age of a truly passionate gardener is the day their greenhouse is constructed in the garden. Lots of people are happy to potter along growing crops with the seasons, but fanatical gardeners like to push the boundaries, growing crops that would otherwise struggle to grow in their environment or to get a jump start on the season. Of course, a not inconsequential side-benefit is being able to sit in neartropical warmth and enjoy your plants while the outside world is chilly and wet. You can gain an advantage of at least a month at the start of the season by using an unheated greenhouse. Another month or more can be tacked on to the end of the season for cold sensitive crops like beans and tomatoes. So, instead of tomatoes from December to April, you may be eating tomatoes from November to June. A capable gardener, with good disease control and the right varieties, can even have tomatoes all year round, although woe betide if you take your eye off the crop for more than a few days!

Each style of house, type of framing and covering material has its advantages and disadvantages. You can make a greenhouse from glass, polythene or twinwall polycarbonate sheeting (this latter option is increasingly preferred by home gardeners). For those on a tight budget, old wooden windows with their sashes still attached can often be picked up for free or very cheap from house demolitions or renovations. I’ve seen some very stylish and effective greenhouses made this way.

Glass has the best light transmission but can be a safety issue particularly with children. Plants can also scorch more easily under glass on sunny days. If buying new, glass is also the most expensive option, but does last the longest. Polythene has less light transmission than glass, but also less chance of scorching. It is the least durable of the covering materials but also by far the least expensive. Twin-wall polycarbonate has the best insulation properties and although it doesn’t have the light transmission quality of glass, its high diffusion rating means less shading is needed in summer to avoid scorching. It is midway between the other two for cost, but has good longevity if a quality, UV protected brand is used.

A double-glazed greenhouse is much more efficient at holding heat than single layers, which is where the twin-wall polycarbonate excels. This effect can also be achieved by using two separate skins of polythene, two layers of glass or even a layer of polythene inside the glass. If possible, get a larger greenhouse rather than a smaller one, as the more air volume in a greenhouse, the more stable the environment; and this is better for your plants.

One critical aspect of greenhouse design is sufficient ventilation. Poor ventilation dramatically increases the amount of leaf diseases and stresses the plants by letting temperatures climb too high. A good rule of thumb for working out the amount of windows and vents you need is that if you take the dimensions of all of the openings at their widest point, they should add up to at least 30% of the floor space. Most summer greenhouse vegetables can take up to 32°C without too much stress so this amount of ventilation should be enough to prevent your greenhouse getting too hot until the middle of summer, when some shading might be needed.

If you are a truly fanatical gardener, you could also look at heating your greenhouse. My tropical greenhouse is currently running five heatpads and, as a completely addicted gardener, I even monitor these via wi-fi while on holiday. Well, that’s assuming the power and internet haven’t gone down in yet another storm!